Don’t Fear the God Given Donut

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I’ve written to you quite a bit about the best practices for keeping your mind, body and Spirit healthy on a daily basis.   Today, let’s speak about what happens when the real world – outside influences – try to take us off course.

As a way to level-set, here are some of the best practices that assist me on a daily basis to ensure that I’m physically, mentally and spiritually prepared to deal with life’s curve-balls:

To nourish and feed the Spirit: daily reading of Scripture; daily meditation; daily prayer

To maintain a positive mind, healthy self-esteem and focus on goals: read present tense statements of belief (affirmations) at least two times per day (the best two times are upon rising in the AM and just prior to falling asleep in the PM); affirmations are one-sentence statements of fact or belief about how you choose to be in the future that are stated in the present tense so that you can visualize yourself that way – NOW.

To maintain an always healthy body: daily exercise; 5-6 small meals every 3-4 hours; consistent sleep (ideally 8 hours – I rarely hit the ideal on this one)

So now, it’s about 8AM and your exercise, affirmations, meditation, prayer and breakfast have all been completed. I really enjoy getting these activities accomplished before the rest of the world awakens because it’s my “no excuses” time of day.  You can determine when the best “no excuses” time of the day is for you. It’s a way for me to make sure that my priorities for the day are accomplished before outside influences begin interfering.

Because the world around you is now awake, this is when some of the outside influences begin trying their hardest to start cracking your eggshell – that tough exterior designed to repel verbal and mental grenades.  This is when we get the flat tires. This is when we get the call from school telling us that we have a sick child.  This is when the prospect calls us and tells us that we didn’t get the business. This is when we notice that the roof is leaking and our ceiling and walls are damaged.

When we are focused on the direction that we want our life to take and when we’re committed to the ideal “end-result”, each setback or obstacle along the way is just a minor irritation that can bring a smile to our face.

“I smile in the face of adversity.”  That’s one of the thoughts that I repeat often in my mind that I’m pretty sure came from one of Og Mandino’s books.

As these setbacks occur in my life on a daily basis, I’ve noticed that my response to myself (inside my head) and to others out loud is, “Thank God that this is my biggest problem!”

I am constantly thanking God that the problem(s) that I am facing – regardless of how big it seems at the time – is just a puny, little speed bump along my destination.  It’s a minor detour. It may cause me to go out of my way for a block or two, but it will not derail me.

On the way home from church two weeks ago, my car seemed to be handling a little funny. When I got into my driveway, I realized that I had a flat tire.  The flat tire is on a lease that is expiring in a couple of weeks. “Why is this happening now?” was an initial thought that I had which I quickly turned into, “Thank God that this tire is my biggest problem!”.

When I went to the tire shop the next day, I was notified (of course) that the $300 special tire had to be ordered and would not show up for 4 days.  That meant that I’d be driving around with the spare tire (donut) on my car and unable to safely drive more than 50MPH for five days.  “Thank God that this is my biggest problem!”

That Friday, the tired showed up midday. “Finally, my car is back and I can drive the speed limit again.”  It was now 3PM and I had dialed into a conference call on my cell phone as I left the tire shop.  About 30 yards down the road from the tire shop, a warning light came on the dashboard that said I had a problem with my brakes.  Because I was on the conference call and assumed that the authorized dealer would have to fix this electronic problem, I drove 30 miles to the dealer to see if they could fix the problem.

“I am bigger than any problem that is presented to me.” (We can repeat affirmations that strengthen us all throughout the day.)

The service manager came out to look at the car and noticed in 3 seconds that the new tire that had been put on my car not 40 minutes ago was a truck tire and was therefore too big for my car. Having 3 tires that are one size and a fourth tire of a different size is the problem that was causing my warning light to come on.  When he told me that, I took a very deep, cleansing breath and repeated to myself, “Thank you God for allowing this to be my biggest problem.”

Rather than focus on the reality that was being presented me, I triggered my forethought to focus on what was going to occur later that evening. As I visualized a couple of hours into the future, I knew that I was going to get dressed up and take my beautiful wife to a dinner with the President of my daughter’s high school.  It would be a great evening of cocktails, dinner, conversation and laughs with my wife and with other parents of high school boarding students. When that event was over, I’d get to pick-up my daughter (who I hadn’t seen since the prior Sunday), give her a big hug and kiss and take her home with us for the weekend.  How fortunate I am!

You and I always get to choose whether we dwell on the negative or keep our thoughts focused on what we do want.  Successful people do not get bogged-down in their present reality.

I called the dealer on my way home but, it was too late for them to do anything about it at 3:45PM on a Friday and I assumed that they would have to “reorder” the correct tire again.  I knew that the car was unsafe to drive so, I’d have to go the weekend without my car.  “Thank God….”

Each time an obstacle is presented to me, this is the thought that goes through my mind, “Is this problem bigger than me OR am I bigger than it?”  This is a very key decision point for me.  I know with 100% certainty that I will never be presented with a problem that I can’t deal with as long as I have God’s Words inside of my head, the Holy Spirit inside of my being and God’s assistance in solving the problem.  I am never alone. I don’t have to deal with life’s small problems or big problems by myself – ever.

That belief allows me to literally smile in the face of adversity because I know that there is an answer to every single problem that we have to deal with on a daily basis.  I know that God is constantly challenging me to see how much or how little I’ll rely upon Him and include Him into my thought process and creativity.

Thank you God for making each problem a small problem in your eyes.

Thank you for the faith that allows me to know that you are always with me every second of every day.

Thank you for allowing me the ability to choose my thoughts and actions and for helping me to choose love, patience, understanding and compassion as my go-to responses to each of life’s pot holes.

I am now at the point of being almost 100% absent of fear.  It doesn’t matter what an e-mail says or what the phone message will be or what someone might say or do.  Each of these things will just be a very small detour along the pathway to a successful day: trust that God’s plan won’t make you drive 60 mph on your spare “donut” tire.